Michael Finkel: True Story

"When you talk with someone when emotion is high, when adrenaline is pumping, you can really capture a person’s true nature. Wait even a few minutes and people often relax into a sort of bantering, gallows-humor mode following a near-death experience. But in the moments just after, the feelings are raw and real -- exactly what I seek as a journalist." 

-Michael Finkel

Anyone who's been the victim of identity theft knows the despair of instantly having your world turned upside down. Now lets add that the thief is wanted for the murder of his wife and children and was introducing himself as you while hiding out in Cancun. This nightmare scenario is the true story of journalist, author and speaker Michael Finkel who did what any good journalist would do: contact the murderer for an interview. Christian Longo agreed to the interview and the two began exchanging phone calls and letters along with the occasional prison visit. True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, was the product of this communication. 

If you're wondering why this all seems like something out of a movie, that's because it...sort of is. Tonight is the premiere of True Story, the film, starring Jonah Hill as Michael Finkel and James Franco as Christian Longo. To mark the excitement of seeing this riveting story play out on the big screen, we asked Michael to share what it's been like to walk in his shoes.   

 

What is it like to have your life story portrayed on film?

It’s surreal, to say the least. The story, which involves my intricate and disconcerting relationship with a man accused of four murders, is a tragedy. The victims of the crimes, and the relatives of those killed, are always in my mind.

I was deeply and emotionally involved in this story -- after all, a killer took on my identity -- and to see the tale portrayed on film is an unsettling experience. The movie is extremely well made and compelling, but I doubt I will ever be able to watch “True Story” without feeling like my stomach has twisted into knots.

 

Was there anything that caught you off guard with that whole process?

I spent a day on the set, during which James Franco, who plays the role of the murderer, was performing in a courtroom scene. There were cameras and production assistants and lighting crews around, but it took place in a real courtroom, in New York City, and the experience of watching the scene felt extremely real to me.

During the filming, I sat in the back, in one of those uncomfortable wooden courtroom bench seats. While I watched Franco act as the murderer, unnerving memories of the actual murder trial -- during which I sat in the same type of uncomfortable seat -- played out in my mind. It was both emotionally and physically difficult.

 

What was it like to meet face-to-face with a murderer?

Very disturbing. To visit someone on death row in Oregon, you are led by a guard through a series of doors, each one slammed and locked behind you, as you move toward the center of the penitentiary.

Then you enter a visiting booth, where there is a pane of bullet-proof plexiglas separating you from where the inmate sits. I was the first one in the booth, and I waited there alone for several minutes, listening to strange echoes and slams reverberate through the prison.

Then Chris Longo, the murderer who impersonated me, walked into his side of the booth. He was handcuffed. A door closed, locking Longo in, and he backed up to a small, mail-slot-like opening in the door and stuck his hands out so they could be uncuffed.

Then he sat on a metal stool bolted to the floor, picked up his telephone receiver, and finally looked through the scratched plexiglas and locked eyes on me.

 

What are the most unusual or dangerous stories you’ve covered as a reporter?

I’ve had several close calls while reporting on stories. In Haiti, I boarded a rickety boat packed with refugees all hoping to find a better life in America. The boat nearly ran aground on a reef in the middle of the Caribbean Sea; we were rescued just in time by a U.S. Coast Guard ship that happened to be passing by.

While covering the conflict in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, a car I was in was partially run over by a tank. Everyone in the car -- me, a photographer, a driver, and a translator -- survived, but for a few moments I was sure I was going to be flattened beneath the treads of a speeding Taliban tank. Before that, covering a conflict in the Gaza Strip, I lifted my head up a bit too high while near the front lines, and a bullet missed my face by inches.

As for unusual stories, I have lived with one of the world’s last true hunter-gatherer tribes in Tanzania; I have climbed into a live volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; I’ve joined a cult in Colorado; and -- possibly the most challenging thing I have ever done -- I meditated silently for 10 consecutive days in India.

 

What made your approach to these situations different from someone who isn't a reporter?

Just like someone who is not a reporter, I was certainly frightened when danger presented itself.

But unlike most people, I specifically sought out these places. I wanted to remain near the front lines of a war, even tough I did not carry a weapon. It was important to me that when something terrifying happened, rather than flee from it, I went closer, so I could speak with the people who experienced it.

When you talk with someone when emotion is high, when adrenaline is pumping, you can really capture a person’s true nature. Wait even a few minutes and people often relax into a sort of bantering, gallows-humor mode following a near-death experience. But in the moments just after, the feelings are raw and real -- exactly what I seek as a journalist.